No one is more surprised by the awards season success of Iraqi war drama “The Hurt Locker” than one of its stars, Anthony Mackie.

“If anybody tells you they expected any of this they’re lying,” Mackie told CNN during an interview to promote another movie, his Sundance film “Night Catches Us” this week. “It was a hard movie to make and by the time everybody got to the end of the shoot everybody was happy that it was done. We were happy making the movie but there was nothing easy about it.”

After two-and a half months of a grueling location shoot in Jordan, Mackie says the cast walked away having lost a lot a of weight with some great tans. FULL POST

David Hyde Pierce is probably best known for his Emmy-winning role as Dr. Niles Crane, the uptight brother on the long-running sitcom, “Frasier.” So it shouldn't be a surprise that his character in his first feature film-starring role in the psychological thriller “The Perfect Host," starts out as very Niles-like.

Pierce plays Warwick Wilson, an adorably neurotic, vaguely effeminate man with impeccable manners, O.C.D., and a love of fine wine. A bank robber played by “24’s” Clayne Crawford talks his way into Wilson’s home and uses it as a place to hide out, just as the perfect host is preparing a dinner party. That’s when facades begin to crumble and the audience gets a peek at an entirely different side of Pierce. FULL POST

The nine remaining women are in two RVs, traveling up California's Pacific Coast Highway to have more adventures with Jake. Our hero, meanwhile, is traveling by himself on his motorcycle.

We start with a one-on-one date in a vineyard, and Jake has chosen Gia as his betrothed for the day. Vienna thinks New Yorker Gia and Southerner Jake may not mix, but Gia believes they will click.

The date begins with Jake and Gia playing hide-and-seek in a vineyard, then a game of spin the bottle. This is like watching fourth graders on a "supervised" date. I half-expected to see someone's parents hiding in the bushes. FULL POST

Day 8, 8 p.m. – 9 p.m.: Last week, many of the "Bauerites" on this blog mentioned the addition of "Mr. India" himself, Anil Kapoor. Kapoor is well known as one of the biggest names in Bollywood and across the globe after his award-winning performance in "Slumdog Millionaire."

After last night's episode, I am here to make amends for any prior blog (OK, one) that was sans kudos for Mr. Kapoor. President Omar Hassan has become one of this season's most intriguing characters, and Kapoor delivers an endearing, believable performance as the troubled President of Kamistan.

I thought the show did a great job setting up Hassan's character in the first four hours, and then added layer upon layer of his thick dilemmas in last night's episode. So far, Hassan faces a country in turmoil, a failing marriage and his brother's plot to have him killed all in the five hours elapsed thus far. FULL POST